Tigers

Benoit, Valverde Forced To Pitch Extra, And It Hurts

DETROIT, MI – OCTOBER 12: Jose Valverde #46 of the Detroit Tigers reacts in the dugout after being pulled in the 11th inning of Game Four of the American League Championship Series after allowing four runs to the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park on October 12, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

During most of the regular season, Leyland had that middle-inning, seventh-inning guy in Al Alburquerque.

But once he took a shot in the left side of the head, suffering a concussion, when Baltimore was taking batting practice in August, Alburquerque hasn’t been the same. After the down time, Leyland wasn’t able to get him enough work, in part because the reliever with one of the best sliders in baseball has not been particularly sharp.

Leyland brought him in during Texas’ 7-3 11-inning win over Detroit on Wednesday when starter Rick Porcello got in a jam in the seventh.

“Alburquerque came in a little wild,” Leyland said. “We got a little nervous about that. That’s shortened up our bullpen a little bit. We weren’t real sure about him. He hadn’t got much work. He has struggled since he came back. That’s just the way it goes. We actually had our shots. We just didn’t come up with a base hit.”

Leyland used Alburquerque anywhere from just a batter or two up to three innings, the same basic kind of role that he used Joel Zumaya in during his rookie season of 2006, when Detroit reached the World Series.

Down 3-1, Detroit heads into the first of three potential elimination games with the top three pitchers in its rotation ready to go: Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Doug Fister.

“Obviously we’ve got to win three in a row,” Leyland said. “You win (Thursday), it’s 3-2. We can count. I know what the situation is.

“You wouldn’t rather have anyone out there other than Justin Verlander. You win that game, all of a sudden it gets a little hairy again.”